This week we're breaking down my last post "The 6 Simple Concepts Successful Massage Therapists Embrace" one topic at a time.

Today: Leveraging social proof

Whether it's on the internet, flyers, or compelling word of mouth marketing, successful, fully booked massage therapists know that if they are not putting their good reviews out there for potential customers, they are missing out. They understand that people are more likely to do what they see other people enthusiastically doing (social proof).

Testimonial marketing has been around since people first started buying, selling, and trading, and word-of-mouth is the most grassroots form of testimonial marketing. Now, however, there are powerful, free ways to expand your presence to a community of potential clients seeking your services.

The intake form for my practice tracks where people found out about my business, e.g. Yelp, Google Search, Healthprofs.com, sandwich board, Co-op flyer, friend, etc. Would you be surprised that 80% of my new business finds me on Yelp or another local review site, Daviswiki.org?

The prevailing marketing wisdom I've always heard from other massage therapists is that it takes 2-3 years to fill a practice, and that most clients come from word of mouth. But I filled my practice in 8 months, using the power of testimonial marketing on my website and the aforementioned review sites.

You can kick and scream about social media. You can insist that word of mouth always has worked and always will. You can say, "I don't need a website. Not really." To modify a wise gem, I say, "You can be right, or you can have a full practice."

Times have changed, and the businesses that thrive in changing times are led by people who can adapt to shifts in consumer behavior. Well-established healthcare practitioners who have relied solely on word-of-mouth marketing for the past few decades are noticing a curious decline in their practice, and I believe this has less to do with the down economy than their willingness to accept that the new generation of clients seeks out services in a vastly different way.

People search for reviews now because they can, and the therapist with the good, easily searchable reviews is better positioned for new clients to find than the therapist with no reviews.

Your assignment: If you are unfamiliar with Yelp (Yelp.com), have only used it to search for other businesses, or have a Yelp business account you only minimally engage with, go online and read about the positive and negative effects sites like Yelp can have on a business. In future posts I'll be covering how to respond to negative reviews and how to build up a cache of rave reviews that can bring waves of new clients into your practice.